“The nice thing about the Halina 35x is you’re not likely to get mugged for it and if you do you can use it as a deadly weapon.” The poor Hong Kong made 35x is the butt of many a joke and scorn in the camera world.

But this 1959 “Empire Made” viewfinder did sell rather well and has cult following amongst some. So is it really all that bad?

Too often I have to do a review based on just a couple of rolls. But some cameras hang a round longer and I thought it might be worth revisiting those. We begin with the my Superheadz Wide and Slim, a clone of the Vivitar Wide and Slim (VUWS). This is often seen as one of the best Lo-Fi cameras still made

Last year’s Yashica Y35 launch led to one of the biggest outpouring of anger the photography community has ever seen. Whilst the Y35 wasn’t as bad some the vitriol, it was far from perfect. So there was some surprise when rumours of a Yashica branded film. But they’ve now pushed it even further with the launch of a Kickstarter for 2 new films, an analogue camera and the promise of more.

I’d already nailed a good SLR body with the Pentax MZ-5 for the Poundland challenge this year. But a AF SLR Nikon body also arrived for a 99p plus postage. So how does the F65 fare ? and how does it compare to other bodies.

When Cosina launched the the CX-1 & CX-2, little did they know they would become more famous as the cameras that inspired the Lomo LC-A. But that spark was not limited to the (in)famous Russian copy. Several other makes produced similar designs and here’s Hanimex’s take.

We’ve trod this ground before with the Halina 35 Micro (aka the Hong Kong Lomo) which was disappointing due to lack of focus, exposure control and any over-riding of an overly sensitive auto flash. The Hanimex instantly won me over as it resolves all 3of those. But is it any good and is it a lomo rival ?

One of my targets in my Poundland Challenge of getting cameras for a quid or less was to get a SLR body. I knew this was still likely and I’d come close with a Mamiya camera with a non interchangeable lens (some sneaked in at last minute with a £1.20 bid. I’d also passed on a Nikon F55 (already own) and a Praktica BM series body that went for 99p. Still I was bit surprised when this 1996 Pentax prosumer AF camera arrived (which is known as the ZX-5 in the US)

When I decided to relaunch the Poundland Camera Challenge, I was pleasantly surprised when 2 Voigtländer turned including this quite stylish but basic viewfinder. But sadly this wasn’t going to be a camera that even got to the test bed. The lens was Fungus central